Attention new users and infrequent posters!
This forum will now only allow a user to post links once they have made a minimum of 10 posts. This has been put in place to help prevent spammers and bots posting.
Thanks,
TorNorth

Re: Wedding Day

When we arrived at the wedding rehearsal Jeremy and Claire were already waiting for us as well as a blonde girl sitting on one of the empty chairs.

"You must be Lynn." she greeted holding out her hand. "The legend precedes you. My younger sister went into speedrunning just like you. Not Doom though she plays Sonic The Hedgehog. To 100% of course."

"Wouldn't want it any other way." I said proudly. I was privately pleased that my achievements through speedrunning had allowed some new talent to flourish.

"University friends." Amanda explained. "We took the same course together."

Hayley and Tom arrived afterwards along with Jeremy's cousin whose real name wasn't really James but Ben.

The time for the rehearsal was reached but there was no sign of Jeremy's best man. He arrived ten minutes late rather breathless but offering no reason or apologies leaving me wondering where he'd been.

It was a quick and easy run through although Claire's mum did argue over the order of the readings. Me and Daniela shared a look when this discussion was taking place. At our own wedding this problem hadn't arisen as Uncle Jo didn't mind whether he went first or second.

Despite these gripes it was clear that the wedding was going to be an emotional affair and given Claire and Jeremy's history it couldn't be anything else.

"I'm in trouble!" Amanda said tears running down her cheeks. "I'm crying at the rehearsal, I'm going to be an emotional wreck tomorrow." She wiped her tears away with a large tissue.

"Come and help us with the tables if you like." Daniela offered.

"I'd love too but given that it's a Nicolas Sparks theme I'd probably shed tears over the books." Amanda explained apologetically. "Thanks for the offer though"

All of us moved to the main room and inconjunction with the Events team - two girls called Grace and Hannah who were finishing off the cutlery and glassware - we added the centrepieces and the table names.

Claire had been a fan of Nicolas Sparks since high school, however had been forced to hide it because Millie's gang thought it wussy to be a fan of such things. Claire had gone along with it until I had told her she shouldn't be afraid or have to apologise for liking something.

In truth I did have issues with the authors previous stance on same sex relationships but Claire was my best friend and this was her wedding and as it was my job - and Hayley's - to support her on her special day I didn't argue. Since she had done the same for my wedding it would have been churlish to do anything else.

The centerpiece themselves were simple enough; a slice of circular bark in the centre of the table, a medium sized glass bowl of flowers at one side of the bark and a stack of three books that corresponded to the table name which was the main romantic couple featured in the story so for instance the table me and Daniela were doing first was named Erin and Alex after the book Safe Haven.

"Do you need a spirit level?" Daniela teased as she put the names out watching me look at the stack of books from eye level.

"That's a negative Dan, I'll manage without thank you." I shot back good naturedly. Daniela snickered into the table cloth and continued with placing the nametags.

Our familial banter however did not find favour with Mrs Tuttle who promptly appeared from seemingly nowhere to snarl at us.

"Mrs Tuttle, my wife was only joking." I tried to explain

"Yes and it would be nice if you could finish off the tables before the wedding breakfast starts" Mrs Tuttle snapped.

Her outburst had a clear effect on us as we finished the tables. Hayley and Tom reacted in silent horror and poor Hannah got so upset that tears started to fill her eyes. On several occasions she had to stop to wipe away her tears some of them managing to escape down her face before she brushed them away. Her sister Grace got so concerned she volunteered to finish off without her.

We finished in complete silence and there was about half an hour left for me and Daniela to grab our coats from our room before we met our driver to take us to the restaurant for our evening meal.

"Well we don't often get many live specimens in the castle do we Igor!!" Daniela hammily pronounced when we closed the door, the movie quote proving effective at banishing the accumulated tension.

"I'm sorry babe." she apologised "I know she's your best friends mum and it's her daughters wedding tomorrow but she's a bit too intense." Her ponytail had come a little loose during the events of the day so she pulled out her hair tie allowing the now loose hair to fall round her shoulders.

"Don't worry." I replied brushing her left hand tenderly. "I find her a bit much too."

I knelt on the floor and searched through my bag for a piece of paper and started to read. Daniela joined me on the floor and brushed her hands through her hair before retying it back into a ponytail.

"Is that your bridesmaids speech?" she enquired. I nodded

"I'm not sure I like it anymore though." I confessed. "I don't know whether it's because I rewrote it three times or if I just rehearsed the emotion out of it."

Daniela by this time had finished her ponytail and took the offered sheet of paper to read. As she did so I subtly noticed her other hand was playing over the leather crinkles in her right boot and scratching the heel with her nails as she perused the speech.

"I know you don't like public speaking but have you tried doing it without a script." she suggested when she had finished. "You've already rehearsed it and you know Claire very well so you won't be doing it unprepared. And if you run out of words you can always ask for a toast."

She was right, I didn't enjoy public speaking because I still retained some of my shyness from childhood. However her idea was a very good one if potentially nerve wracking. But Claire's own bridesmaid speech had been very short so I was sure that I could manage without.

She turned to our mistress of ceremony for the day, the hotel's Events Manager Charlotte and asked her the time. The reply came back as five minutes to one.

"Are you both ready." Claire asked us. We both said yes and we proceeded to walk downstairs towards the wedding venue where Claire's Dad was waiting.

As we walked down I wondered what Daniela would be wearing at the ceremony. My wife had not yet told me what her oufit was going to be as she'd wanted it to be surprise. And it was a lovely surprise my smile of delight at seeing her in her seat mirroring Jeremy at the altar. Her outfit was a peach coloured dress with matching shoes. She'd straightened her long dark blonde hair too and she looked stunning.

We briefly touched hands and smiled at each other as we passed by and I took my position next to Claire at the altar.

Just like my own wedding as I predicted Claire and Jeremy's was also very moving. Mine and Hayley's tissues were wet with tears by the end of the ceremony and Claire needed to stop halfway through her vows to wipe away her tears.

The readings inbetween the vows and the signing of the register were a Shakespearean Sonnet and a passage from Jane Austen by members of Claire and Jeremy's extended families.

They also had a wedding singer during the signing itself and her emotional rendition of 'Open Arms' by Mariah Carey made me think of Amanda and surely enough when I briefly looked over she was indeed crying, tears falling down her lightly flushed face.

It was a perfect ceremony apart from one small detail. Jeremy's best man didn't seem to be swept up in the festivities at all. In fact he looked for all the world as if he didn't want to be there.

When we walked outside for the photos the cold weather of the previous day had lifted slightly and the temperature had spiked a little. After the wedding photographer had captured me and Hayley with Claire, I had a brief window to catch up with Daniela.

"You look amazing." I told her giving her a loving hug.

"So do you." she replied. "What colour is your dress?"

"Midnight blue." I told her. "What's yours, is it peach?"

"Light apricot." she informed me with a grin. "Although you can call it peach if you want, I can't tell the difference either!"

"How was your spa treatment this morning." I asked her.

"It was lovely." she confirmed clasping my hands in hers. "Thanks for booking it for me"

"Your welcome" The previous occasion we'd been to the hotel celebrating our anniversary, she'd wanted to visit the spa for a massage but they had been fully booked up. Once Claire and Jeremy had booked the hotel for the wedding, I went ahead and booked my wife the massage she couldn't have six months previously as a surprise

We briefly touched on the ceremony and how we both enjoyed with Daniela admitting she'd briefly cried too. We then discussed Jeremy's best man and the fact that his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

"That might have been my fault." Daniela told me. "I had to prise him off his boyfriend so he could get ready for the wedding. While his partner was still working."

"His boyfriend could have been disciplined for that."

"I told him that." Daniela confirmed. "I think your needed by the way." We gave each other a quick kiss and I returned to the wedding party

Re: Wedding Day

After the photos had finished it was time for the drinks reception. My personal job was taking Claire's grandpa round the various groups doing a few magic tricks.

Once we had concluded going round the room Amanda came towards me

"Tell Lynn what you told me." she said to Ben.

"I marathoned your Compet-N 100% project while I was waiting for Jodie Whittaker's first series of Doctor Who to start."

The project he mentioned was a challenge to play every Doom map that my speedrunning group collated records for on Ultra Violence killing every monster, picking up every scoreable item and tagging every secret wherever possible. For extra badass points I went through two of the player created games with faster, more aggressive monsters.

"The truth is had I known how labour intensive it was going to be, I probably wouldn't have done it." I confessed. "Because as challenges go it was a bit crazy!"

"But think of how many other girls you got into speedrunning." Amanda told me. "By doing something that big you proved that you were just as good as the boys and it must have been inspiring to so many. It was for my sister anyway."

I was really touched by this and couldn't stop the tears welling in my eyes again. Wiping them away I moved on to other groups until it was time for the meal.

We applauded Claire and Jeremy into the room and it was time for the speeches. I took a deep breath and started to speak beginning with the night of their first date

"At 9:30 those of us who cared started to get a little antsy wanting to know who were the Prom King and Queen." I continued. "The winners to their surprise and delight were our newlyweds. Although they parted at the end of that special night, fate brought them together again six months before my own wedding, and free from the social constraints of high school, their love was allowed to grow unhindered."

At this point I admit I ran out of words so I took Daniela's advice and asked for a toast.

"To the bride and groom." I toasted. Daniela gave me a supportive thumbs up from her seat mouthing well done.

Thank you I mouthed back. Claire leaned over to whisper into my ear.

"That was perfect Lynn thank you." she told me

"You're welcome." I replied. Jeremy's best man stood up to speak and unfortunately it wasn't very good. Jeremy looked embarrassed throughout and the guests at the tables looked like they were suppressing cringes. I mean my own speech wasn't exactly the Gettysburg address but it was deeply felt.

After our meal it was time for the first dance and as my bridesmaid duties had concluded, I went to sit with my wife so we could watch it together. The song they had chosen was One Moment In Time. The wedding singer from earlier sang the song and she was brilliant. Her final note metaphorically took the roof off the reception room.

"This song gets me everytime." Daniela told me, tears running down her cheeks. "It's the story behind it that makes me cry." I gave her a supportive hug wiping away her tears.

"May I have this dance?" I asked her once the applause had died down and Charlotte had announced the wedding party and their partners could take to the floor

"You may kind madame." Daniela said with a flourish. I giggled along with her and we took to the floor